How short can i keep them and how?

I have a very limited space to keep my plants. I am using regular floresent lights and a soil growing method. Is there a good method to keep them as short as possible? How short can they be?

u can low stress train(LST) or scrog(screen of green) sog(sea of green)

Just do a little looking around maybe in FAQ's

thanks. this is my first serious try. Can a short plant still have decent production. It's just for personal.

oh yeah shortier usually = bushier.
I would top them once they are old enough.
Also you want the lights as close as possible without doing heat damage.
Cfl's can be 2-4" away anything over 4 u start loosing lumen.

i didn't really know about toppin and i flowered mine at 12-13". bad move as it doubled and over and my space ran out so i had to put it on an angle and rotate it half wat through the 12 hour cycle.however more light is getting to the loer buds so not all is bad. next time if definately gonna top it!

heya..... how tall is your space and how many are you doing??

heres a pic to give you an idea of L.S.T.

it's 3' deep 3' across and 2' high. i have all but the front side painted white. small fan to circulate and cfl's. i am going to do a test run with some bag seeds from a pretty good bag. i have not decided on how many plants yet. i would like to have one strong female when it is all said and done. i was thinking about 3 to start with to make my odds of getting a female higher but i have heard that bag seeds are almost never going to turn out female. being that i'm really new to this i'm just kinda scared to order seeds. (i'm on the U.S. east coast.) Do you guys have a reccomendation on how many i should start with and how many cfl's to use? I'm not looking to make money, just want some killer for myself. I'm planning to get some experience first then figure out how to get seeds.

And one other thing. I have been looking around this and other sites for sometime. I have yet to find a good, laymens term description of topping. it must be myfault (or the state I'm in) but i just don't get it. does anyone have any pix that might help me figure it out.

do i have enough height to accomplish anything?

You can keep them super low if you want. It takes some time and works but they come out awesome. I am doing a CLF grow so I need the plant very close to the lights. I have been LST training them from very early on and they are only about 6 inches tall but fill all of the the space for a 5 gallon pot. The LST training works awesome, Kinda like bonzai on yer weed. Now I have not one main bud site per plant, but 6 on each plant. LST provides the plant with an even canopy which helps it receive maximum light and bigger yields. Plus they stay very short. It's pretty bomb.

Check it out,
Good luch

Thanks Kite. i'm definetly going to try that. how many cfl's do you have per plant?

Right now I have one 105W CFL per plant, but I'm going to add a few more for when I flower.

Peace

Here are some pics when I brought them outside:




They would be about 1.5 ft tall if I didn't lst them, so now they have about 5 bud sites each!!!!

nice. what strain are they?